Bond reduced for mother, boyfriend in child abuse cases

Bond was reduced Thursday for a mother and her boyfriend accused of felony child abuse.

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By Candi Hillpublisher@ljtdmail.com

LA Junta Tribune - La Junta, CO

By Candi Hillpublisher@ljtdmail.com

Posted Feb. 1, 2013 at 5:00 PM

By Candi Hillpublisher@ljtdmail.com

Posted Feb. 1, 2013 at 5:00 PM

Bond was reduced Thursday for a mother and her boyfriend accused of felony child abuse.

Jose Jimenez, 25, and Echo Martinez, 20, appeared at separate times before Otero County District Judge Michael Schiferl Thursday with the intention of setting preliminary hearings and discussing bond reduction.

Jimenez and Martinez were arrested last week on charges of child abuse after local law enforcement received a call that Martinez's 7-month-old child was not breathing. Martinez has been charged with felony child abuse and misdemeanor child abuse. Jimenez has been charged with felony child abuse.

They were both being held at the Otero County Jail on a $15,000 bond. However, each of their attorneys Thursday asked for a reduction.

Jimenez appeared first and his lawyer, Ray Torrez, asked that bond be reduced and asked the court to consider a personal recognizance bond. Torrez said along with the presumption, Jimenez has ties to the community with family living here, along with a 6-year-old child who is Jimenez's "world."

Torrez said this is an unfortunate situation, but put simply, accidents do happen. Torrez said Jimenez confessed to law enforcement that he was throwing the child into the air and lost hold the child, resulting in the child hitting his head. He said it comes down to a jury deciding if it was a reckless act or an accident.

Torrez also said that although he hasn't seen the complete discovery, he understands that his client was the one who called 911 and his client performed CPR on the child.

Assistant District Attorney William Culver asked that bond remain as is due to the seriousness of the injuries that the child sustained and the fact that the child was unable to protect himself. Additionally, Culver said Jimenez has many known aliases and, because he is considered a legal resident only for purposes of employment, worried that Jimenez could be flight risk.

He asked that conditions of the bond be amended to include that Jimenez can not have contact with any child under the age of 10 without the consent of Social Services.

Schiferl said he would reduce the bond to fall in line with court schedules, but because of the serious allegations, it would be reduced to $7,500 with the condition that there is no contact with any child under the age of 10 without the consent of social services.

A preliminary hearing for Jimenez was then set for March 26.

In the Martinez case, her lawyer, Casey Irwin, said that they had discussed the situation with the District Attorney's office and both agreed on reducing her bond to $2,000. Culver said although culpable, the District Attorney's office does not believe she is the main suspect. However, he said she is charged because she placed her child in harm's way and did not seek immediate attention.

Page 2 of 2 - Schiferl granted the reduction in bond to $2,000 with the condition that Martinez does not have any contact with children under the age of 10 without consent from Social Services.